Turkey Elections: Erdogan To Take Oath As President, Name His New Cabinet Today — Report

Erdogan, who has been at the helm of Turkish politics for the last 20 years, garnered 52.2% support in the May 28 runoff vote.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been leading the country for the last two decades, is set to take oath as the President on Saturday.

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New Delhi: After registering a victory in the recently-concluded general elections in Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been leading the country for the last two decades, is set to take oath as the President on Saturday and later name his cabinet, news agency Reuters reported. The 69-year-old leader, who has been at the helm of Turkish politics for the last 20 years, garnered 52.2% support in the May 28 runoff vote. His election victory, that came amid a cost-of-living crisis, went against the predictions of most opinion polls that predicted a win for his contender Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

The new parliament convened on Friday and Recep Erdogan will officially start his new term by taking his oath on Saturday around 3 p.m. (1200 GMT) in the general assembly in Ankara.

According to the report, the oath-taking event will be followed by a ceremony at the presidential palace that will be attended by high-level officials from 78 countries and international organisations, including NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

After the ceremony, Erdogan will most likely name his cabinet ministers, and according to Reuters, he will include former economy chief Mehmet Simsek in his new cabinet.

It is to be noted that the May 14 President election and May 28 runoff was pivotal given the opposition had been confident of ousting Erdogan and reversing many of his policies, including proposing sharp interest rate hikes to counter inflation, running at 44% in April.

According to political experts, if the current policies continue, the Turkish economy is headed for a turmoil given the depleted foreign reserves, an expanding state-backed protected deposits scheme, and unanchored inflation expectations.

Notably, the country has been reeling under a cost-of-living crisis fuelled by inflation that peaked at a staggering 85 per cent in October before easing to 44 per cent last month.